Many people believe that the strongest kind of proof is scientific proof—something that can be observed, tested, and demonstrated. Because science cannot prove that God exists, some people in the scientific community conclude that there is no God. Christianity, however, is based on faith and revelation. Christians believe that God has made Himself known through people He chose, through events that happened in history and were recorded in the Bible, and ultimately through Jesus Christ, who entered human history.

For this reason, the best way to understand Christianity is to recognize that it is a historical faith. Its central beliefs are connected to real people, real events, and historical evidence that can be examined and considered.

In order to understand historical proof I love to share this personal story. Sixty years ago, I was twelve years old and played in a basketball game. I played for Highlands Elementary School and we played against McElwain Elementary.

McElwain was not very good and it was one of those days, where everything goes right for you. Now I was not a great basketball player, I was just average. But it was one of those days when every shot I launched went in, and I ended the day scoring twenty points. Probably the only time I ever scored in double figures.

Now imagine you are a detective. Someone comes to you and hires you to prove that this event actually happened—someone looking for proof that Richard Simmons scored twenty points, sixty years ago.

As you set out to prove this, it is highly unlikely that you would go to a scientist or a philosopher to assist you in the effort. However, you might begin your research by going to people who knew me as a young boy and asking, did Richard play basketball as a kid? And you would find them all tell you he loved basketball. He played all the time, and he was always out in the back yard shooting.

You might then go to McElwain Elementary. Quite frankly, I don’t even know if it exists anymore. But it should not be too difficult to find out if there really was a school named McElwain that existed sixty years ago. Did they have a basketball team? A sixth grade basketball team? In 1966? You could go to my elementary school, Highlands, and you could find out if Richard Simmons III was indeed enrolled as a student sixty years ago. You would most likely be able to find, and thus prove, all of these facts to be true. Then you might go to some of my teammates, who, as far as I know, are all still alive. A number of them even in this town. You could go to them and ask them, all eyewitnesses, Do you remember that day? Let’s assume several of these eyewitnesses say, Yes, I do remember that day; he was out of his mind, the way he was shooting.

And, since this was a YMCA program, let’s say you find out that the Shades Valley YMCA still has in its basement all of the scorebooks from the youth basketball games of the past. As you go through them, you find the year 1966, you find February, sixth grade basketball, you find the Highlands vs. McElwain game and then you see the name Simmons. Nine baskets, two free throws, twenty points.

Let me ask you this question. Based on all of this evidence, could you conclude, reasonably, that I scored twenty points, sixty years ago against McElwain Elementary?

You see, that is the nature of historical proof. This is what historical inquiry is all about. To prove something historically, historians must discover past events by piecing together evidence and interviewing eyewitnesses. As the noted historian, John Warwick Montgomery said, it is in the historical arena where we have to accept probability in historical judgments, based on the historical records and the evidence that is available.

Ann Rice is quite a famous author, having published many best-selling novels, among these Interview with a Vampire. She grew up in the Catholic Church, and while in college she completely abandoned her faith, and later married an atheist. At about the time the movie, The DaVinci Code came out, she found herself motivated to do her own research on the historical Jesus. She was shocked at the strength of the historical evidence and then surprised everyone who knew her when she announced she had become a Christian and was returning to the Christian faith.

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay is considered to be one of the greatest archeologists in history. He performed most of his work across Asia Minor and the Middle East. An Englishman, he was raised an atheist; the son of atheists of great wealth. Receiving his doctorate in archeology from Oxford, he committed his entire life to archeology and set out for the Holy Land with the intention of undermining the validity of the Bible. His hope was to completely discredit the book of Acts. He was confident he could do so because there was simply so much historical information he believed he could draw upon.

I began with a mind unfavorable to it [Acts] . . . It did not lie then in my line of life to investigate the subject minutely; but more recently I found myself often brought into contact with the book of Acts as an authority for the topography, antiquities, and society of Asia Minor.

Over time, Ramsay was forced to completely reverse his beliefs as a result of the overwhelming evidence uncovered in his research. After thirty years of vigorous and comprehensive study and analysis, this is what he had to say about Luke’s ability as a historian,

Luke is a historian of the first rank; not merely are his statements as facts trustworthy . . . this author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians  . . . Luke’s history is unsurpassed in respect to its trustworthiness.

Eventually, after uncovering many hundreds of artifacts confirming the historicity of the New Testament record, Ramsay, would shock the archaeological community when he revealed to the world that he had become a Christian.

Richard E Simmons III is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Executive Leadership and a best-selling author.